Which one of these “Auditor Types” do you consider the worst type from the standpoint of the auditee? Why?

All of these types, when taken to the extreme, are clearly not what anyone wants in an audit organization. But from an auditee’s standpoint I would think that “The Faker” is the worst. The reason being, that this individual makes no attemp…[Read more]

I agree that The Well Connected auditor is one of the worst types, though I’m now thinking from the standpoint of the audit team and its leaders, rather than the auditee. The Well Connected is hired due to pressure from someone in a position of power, which means that, once hired, this auditor can be very difficult to get rid of. In addition, d…[Read more]

You bring up some great points in your post. First, I agree that, without understanding the impact that technology will have on the business, the knowledge itself is useless (and potentially very harmful). An organization simply cannot have one without the other if it wants to be successful. And it is important, as you mentioned, that…[Read more]

These are two good points, and ones that I think not everyone would immediately think of when discussing Millennials. I agree that the ability to quickly adapt to new technology can be a huge benefit for an audit organization. I remember a time when floppy disks were the go-to method of storage and file transport, and now we can put and pull files…[Read more]

I definitely agree that unethical leadership was a root for many of the control failures we discussed. The behavior of leaders is seen and mirrored by everyone else in the organization, which is what allows such unethical practices to be successful (for a short time, at least). If it was a few lower-level employees that were attempting to commit…[Read more]

Q3. A person’s character is very crucial in the audit industry. How would you build your reputation and maintain a good ethical character in this industry?

I believe that the way in which auditors conduct themselves while interacting with customers is a key to building and maintaining a good reputation. It is important to balance personality w…[Read more]

Q2. In the Real World Control Failures we’ve reviewed, describe the character of the leaders involved. Is it a root of the control failures?

In many cases, the leaders involved in high-profile control failures were greedy, always looking to increase the value of their company, and were definitely a root for the control failures. Creating an o…[Read more]

Q4. What aspect of compliance should an organization put the most effort into ensuring their controls are adequate? What factors about an organization (its industry, profit/non-profit, international, …) would drive this answer?

Organizations should put the most effort into ensuring their controls are adequate for aspects of compliance related t…[Read more]

Independence was definitely stressed where I work. Before the new internal audit analysts started we had to complete a week-long training program, and part of that training was learning the reporting structure (we were even given diagrams to take with us in case we forgot!). Even though we were only entry-level auditors, and thus would…[Read more]

Q2. How is independence maintained when working for the company as an internal auditor?

Internal auditors must maintain independence in order to provide objective assessments of a company’s processes. These auditors should report directly to an audit committee or board, rather than any company executives. This will ensure that internal a…[Read more]

Q1. Have you ever been involved with an internal audit or audit of your process/project? Briefly describe.

This past summer, an audit that my team had conducted earlier in the year was reviewed by the Quality Assurance group. Several Quality Assurance Analysts reviewed our workpapers from beginning to end and spoke to our client from the audit.…[Read more]